Frank Hodgkinson: The Sepik Diary
A journey up New Guinea’s Sepik River made more vivid through word and image
This is the third in a series of four posts about process.
The artistic process sometimes begins with curiosity and a willingness to investigate and educate. In March 1977, Australian artist Frank Hodgkinson (1919-2001) embarked on a remarkable 500-mile dugout canoe trip up the Sepik River in New Guinea, that documented in word and image. What he produced was a blend of confessional diary, sketchbook and scientific journal. It's filled with his vivid prose and bold pen and wash sketches of tribal art, carvings, masks, spirit houses, local floral and fauna, and most importantly, portraits of the Sepik River people. His handwritten notations are found in and around the drawings. The Sepik Diary is about Hodgkinson’s personal journey, as well an anthropological study of a voyage of cultural significance.
The image captions are taken from his notes.
At the time of his journey, the Sepik region of Papua New Guinea was an untamed, so-called primitive land that beckoned to be explored. Imagine navigating this strange and powerful river. As the jungle thickens and twilight descends, you can almost hear the distant rhythmic pulse of tribal drums. Hodgkinson evokes the exotic in his vivid prose. He made watercolors of huts on stilts, crocodiles along the muddy banks and more.
Hodgkinson experienced firsthand the ancient traditions of a culture at risk of vanishing, observing the beauty and complexity of each village’s distinct artistic styles and rituals.
He shared his own profound attraction, on a primal level, to their processes and practices, from the careful carving of intricate wooden masks and canoes to the vibrant body painting of the Sepik people. Each aspect is laden with meaning, history and an intimate connection to the natural world. He was received warmly as he drew local artisans engaged in making their own artful creations.
Hodgkinson’s explorations did not end there; he continued his artistic odyssey through sacred Aboriginal sites in his native Australia, making annual journeys to the Northern Territory until 1987, when he spent extensive time in the stunning landscapes of Kakadu National Park and Arnhem Land. He immersed himself in the region’s rich legends, rituals, art forms, geological wonders, natural history, and existential inquiries, culminating in the creation of another published journal, called Kakadu and the Arnhem Landers.
In 1982 Hodgkinson dedicated the diary to the people of the Sepik. It reads: “The river folk know that art and life are inseparable, that beauty is experienced before it is conceptualized.”
Frank Hodgkinson brought an artist’s perspective to a culture that was distinctly different from Western aesthetic sensibilities. He was known primarily as an abstract expressionist painter, yet his insightful observations of primal peoples, landscapes and traditions provided a visually compelling narrative that informed his work. The Sepik Diary stands as a poignant and powerful testament from a curious and empathetic artist on a journey of self-discovery.
Drawings and text © Estate of Frank Hodgkinson
Read what I wrote about the processes of artists Robert Weaver and Tomio Nitto.
Wow, that guy can DRAW!
These illustrations are stunning!